In real-world practice, high stroke and bleeding risks favored the choice of warfarin or aspirin, while among NOACs, apixaban was favored for elderly and high-risk patients and dabigatran for lower-risk patients.
Patient factors guide AF antithrombotic choices in practice; leaves open whether these patterns improve outcomes.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of patient characteristics such as age and stroke and bleeding risks on decisions for antithrombotic treatment in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS: This was a retrospective, population-based study including AF patients initiated with either warfarin, dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban, or low-dose aspirin (ASA) between March 2015 and February 2016. Multivariate models were used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for factors associated with treatment decisions. Among patients receiving oral anticoagulants, patients with high bleeding risks more often received warfarin (ATRIA score 5-10 vs 0-3; aOR 1.40; CI 1.20-1.64). Among NOACs, apixaban was preferred for patients with higher stroke risks (aOR 1.78; CI 1.31-2.41), high bleeding risks (aOR 1.54; CI 1.26-1.88) and high age (age group ≥85 vs 0-65; aOR 1.84; CI 1.44-2.35). Conversely, dabigatran treatment was associated with lower ages and lower risks. CONCLUSIONS: High stroke and bleeding risks favored choices of warfarin or ASA. Among patients receiving NOACs, apixaban was favored for elderly and high-risk patients whereas dabigatran was used in lower risk patients. The inadvertent use of ASA, especially among those with high stroke risks, should be further discouraged.
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Komen et al. (2017) studied this question.
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